Jonathan has started setting up the fish tanks with the girls.

It's a longer than usual process, because they're doing live-planted tanks. Honestly, it's painfully slow. I don't know how they are surviving the suspense; but I know I'm not good at waiting.

First supplies started trickling into the house by delivery.  Then Jonathan brought rocks home bags of rocks from the Aquatic Store which were all washed. Next came a night of cleaning of the tanks and then trying out rock layouts. There were thin branches, waterlogged driftwood, and rocks in about 4 colours to choose from. Jonathan cut a piece of plastic grid for the bottom of each of the girl's tanks to minimize the chance of the glass breaking if the girls drop a rock when placing them into the tank. The grid also worked great for letting the girls see how much space they had to work with.

MsE tried out about 3 combinations before seizing a large piece of driftwood, which was originally intended for Jonathan's large tank. She had her heart set on it, choosing her final accompanying rocks moments later, and then that was that. After more than an hour we packed the supplies up on her and sent her onto bed. There's a large bin of rocks in the dining room.

MsC still hasn't settled on her design. She tried at least 10, taking pictures of each version so she can choose later. MsI doesn't have a fish tank, but she wasn't about to be left out. We handed her a spare piece of grid and she had fun piling rocks on it.

Below was Jonathan's final selection before moving it into the big tank. The grid on the bottom is actually smaller than the fish tank. He's mainly using the grid to build up a hill at the back of the tank that will be covered with a fine mesh that the dirt can go right on. He told me you can't put the dirt very thick or the water will get really muddy, and the alternative of just building a large sandbank is rather expensive. Sand goes over the dirt to keep the dirt down.

It's exciting to watch all this, but I'm not enjoying the suspense of half finished tanks or the sand everywhere. The doorbell keeps ringing and the delivery guys hand over oddly shaped parcels which we unwrap to find yet another bag of sand.

Another few nights have been spent washing sand. Yes, it is washed so it doesn't muddy up the water a ton. There is sand on the sundeck and on the couch and in my shower (where they're doing the sand washing) and I swear it's gotten into my bed. It also seems to be at the bottom of every sink I go to.